22 Jul
1997
22 Jul
'97
3:49 a.m.
On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Tim Shoppa wrote:
What I'm amazed at is that I've got several
thousands pounds of
Data General Eclipse S/130's up here
in B.C. - machines with full toggle-and-light front panels - and
I'm unable to give them away. Repeated posts of the hardware lists
to "classiccmp" have yielded virtually no interest, outside of a
couple of truly heroic collectors/preservationists from the East Coast.
Yet if I make
a mention that I have a front-panel IMSAI I get hundreds of emails
from collectors and pseudo-collectors-wannabes who would bend over backwards
to pay me good money for it. Are the only machines that
people collect trendy micros that have been featured in the "collectible"
column of the _LA Times_ and the like? Are classic minis, including PDP-11's
and DG mini's only items for the junk heap? (Outside the efforts of
me, Jeff Shirley, and a couple heroic folks in Rhode Island, that is?)
Hey, if you're willing to pay for the shipping of those beasts, or
perhaps drive them down to me, I'd be more than happy to take them in.
The fact is they are too cumbersome for most collectors to deal with.
You are to be commended for putting forth the effort to collect them
yourself, but for us common folk they are just too unwieldy.
If I could get machines like you have locally (I do have a source for
PDPs) then I would do it. However, I'm not going to spend hundreds of
dollars or drive hundreds (thousands) of miles in a rented truck (unless
you can fit a PDP-11 in the trunk of a Honda Civic) to pick stuff up.
Sam
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass